


Dwindling Star

by keiraide



Series: G00 Assassins AU [1]
Category: Gundam 00, 博多豚骨ラーメンズ - 木崎ちあき| Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens - Kisaki Chiaki
Genre: Alternate Universe, Assassins & Hitmen, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-06 13:03:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15195347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keiraide/pseuds/keiraide
Summary: Written for Gundam 00 Week Day 1: Daybreak's Bell / TrapTieria was an assassin that just wanted to protect his family and live a (mostly) normal life. After having everything taken from him, the universe wouldn’t even grant him that much, it seemed.





	Dwindling Star

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first fanfic ever!
> 
> This is is heavily inspired by a few scenes/episodes from Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens, which is about Fukuoka, a city that seems peaceful on the surface but is riddled with assassins, mobs, and other dangerous people/organizations underground. 
> 
> I’m obsessed with it, I zipped through all 12 eps, and I'm currently reading the light novel since it's ongoing and goes beyond the anime. Check it out if you don't mind a lot of blood/gore! It's very charming and you'll get a few laughs out of it too.
> 
> I tried to summarize the plot for the context of the fic to make sense, so hopefully it works well enough as a standalone piece! Small warning: there is a spoiler for something that happens early on in the show/book; there was no getting around that, unfortunately.

_This isn’t how it was supposed to go._ Tieria thought in panic, eyes glued to the cold floor beneath him. He was surrounded by five men, all pointing guns in his direction.

_Where did I go wrong?_

Ribbons, donned in a black suit, stood above him with a smug grin. “I warned you before, Tieria Erde.”

_Why? Why was I born if this is how I was meant to die?_

“This is what happens when you cross me.” The sounds of guns cocking echoed.

_Regene, I’m sorry…_

“Goodbye.”

_Bang!_

\--

Tieria startled out of his sleep with a gasp. He nearly stumbled off of the couch he was resting on, but caught himself with a foot on the floor. He wiped at his brow, which had broken out in a cold sweat.

Agitated at yet another night of restlessness, he rubbed his palm into his eye and shoved off the blanket his roommate gave him. Well, roommate wasn’t completely accurate. Tieria was more of a freeloader than a tenant in the one bedroom apartment/detective office he was residing in temporarily.

The owner of the residence was Neil Dylandy, an Irish detective in his late 20’s. He was a handsome man who spoke with a strong accent, much like the other natives of Dublin. As a foreigner, Tieria had a hard time understanding them sometimes. They’d met a few days prior, shortly before Tieria’s whole world came crashing down on him.

\--

Having been forcibly taken from his home and trained as an assassin since childhood, Tieria was previously employed with a hitman organization known as VEDA. The money he made from killing criminals and other hitmen was supposed to support his twin brother, who was thousands of miles away from Ireland.

Tieria’s former boss and an executive at VEDA, Ribbons Almark, was crass and arrogant—with a horrible taste in fashion—and often treated Tieria like a dog. His violet eyes were always cold and he was always smirking, even when he was barking orders at Tieria to get his jobs done faster.

It was humiliating, and things reached a breaking point when Ribbons referred to Tieria as “a child who didn’t know his place” when the latter demanded to be paid what he felt he was worth. Despite this, Ribbons had instructed Tieria to handle his next target, a renowned detective who’d been getting too close to their organization: that was Neil.

Tieria refused and declared he was going on strike until he got paid, but broke into the Irishman’s residence anyway. There were pair of spare keys outside of the office door. _How foolish_ , Tieria had thought. When Neil stepped into the door that same evening, Tieria told him he had been hired to kill him. Before the detective motioned to defend himself, Tieria added that he was going against orders and decided to protect Neil instead, knowing that Ribbons would send someone else just to spite him.

Neil questioned why, and initially declined the offer, but Tieria insisted after explaining the severity of the situation they were both in and proving his skills by pining Neil to the floor in the blink of an eye. Reluctantly, Neil let him stay, but coerced Tieria into buying him a case of Guinness in exchange. Tieria was annoyed at the request but carried it out anyway, quickly learning how annoyingly laidback the man was, especially for a cop.

When Tieria returned, the two got on the topic of his past after the detective called Tieria by his name. Despite knowing nothing about Neil, but respecting his talents in discovering his identity so quickly, the assassin admitted to being in debt and was working to pay it off and support his family. Neil offered to pay him the remaining balance in exchange for more detailed information about himself and VEDA. Tieria internally questioned how a detective could have several million euros lying around, but how the man made his living wasn’t his business.

Neil asked him his name. _He already looked it up himself._ How old he was. _22._ Where he was born. _Taiwan._ How he learned English. _Multiple languages were taught in the facility he’d been trained in._ Who he worked for. _VEDA, a multinational mafia group that was exiled from the Chinese mafia._ What their main source of income was. _Humans; often used for sex, training, or enslavement._ If he knew of the names of any recent victims. _He didn’t know the specifics; he was only given targets to kill._ If he knew the man in the candid photo he placed on the table. _That was undeniably his boss, Ribbons._

After being questioned, Tieria took the money and thanked Neil for his generosity, who in turn thanked him for his intel and promised he would only use it for his investigation. Tieria wasn’t concerned about how the information would be used; it was hardly his problem anymore. Neil offered his business card and sent him off with, _“_ _If ya git into trouble, fell free to call me.”_

Tieria brushed off his statement, but pocketed the card anyway. He promptly left the office to head straight to the airport, thinking he was finally free to see his brother again.

He was just a few blocks down the street when he received the call from Ribbons. Tieria stated that he no longer needed to work for him and was heading back home to his family. Before he hung up, however, Ribbons spoke up.

 _“Oh? So you haven’t heard the news, then.”_ Ribbons had sounded suspiciously calm, almost cheerful.

“What news?” Tieria hissed, feeling his good mood turn sour.

“ _Well, I’m sure you’d be happier remaining blissfully unaware. But if you’re curious, I’m certain it’s broadcasting right about now.”_ The called dropped.

Shaken and confused, Tieria glanced into the nearest bar window to spot a television, which had just turned from sports to a breaking news story. There was a scandal about a politician who killed a victim of human trafficking. The victim’s name was—

“Regene…?!” _No. No no nononononono._ Tieria was frozen in shock. His blood ran cold and hot at the same time. Burning tears weld up in his eyes. He didn’t want to believe it. He couldn’t believe it, but…the picture of the victim looked exactly like his kin. Tieria immediately mashed the screen on his phone to call Ribbons back and exploded the second the line picked up.

“What is the meaning of this?!” A few people on the street turned their heads in curiosity, but Tieria was too blinded with rage to notice or care. “You promised you wouldn’t touch him!”

_“How naïve. Did you really think you’d get away without any consequences? This is why you shouldn’t make light of adults.”_

“You bastard...” The phone screen cracked under his grip. “How dare you make a mockery of me!”

 _“You’ve done an exceptional job of doing that yourself,”_ Ribbons chuckled. “ _Oh, and by the way, all of the money you thought you were sending to him? It was going into the pockets of our executives.”_

Tieria snapped.

“I will kill you. You will rue this day, Ribbons Almark. One death isn’t enough to send you to Hell. You deserve you ten thousand!”

Tieria shoved his phone into his bag and exchanged it for his favorite dagger. He turned on his heel and bolted toward the office complex VEDA operated out of. He bumped into a few civilians on the way, but made no effort to check on their wellbeing.

Upon entering the automatic doors of the building, he swiftly slashed the lobby guard’s neck and stole his pistol. Not wanting to waste time with the elevator, he climbed the stairs to the third floor, where Ribbons’ office was. Several other hitmen awaited him in the hallway, but their efforts were short-lived. With inhuman reflexes, Tieria stabbed the man closest to him, and used him as a meat shield for incoming bullets. Tieria dropped him to the floor and shot back at them, hitting two more through their hearts and watching them drop like deadweights.

The last one, shocked at how fast his allies fell, tried to make a break for a door further down the hall, but Tieria threw the dagger into his back and he fell forward. The man whimpered as Tieria stood above him, but was quickly silenced by a bullet in his skull.

Tieria advanced toward the door and kicked it open, only to find it empty.

 _Did he escape?—no, wait_. Tieria knew that Ribbons had a hidden longue in his office, he was probably waiting for him in there. This was obviously a trap, but the sooner he could slit the man’s throat, the better. He stepped on the tile behind the desk that revealed the secret room. When it opened, Ribbons was there, lounging on a loveseat with that ever-irritating grin on his face. Tieria felt his blood boil more, and aimed the gun at his forehead, dagger to his side in his other hand.

“You’re rather calm,” Tieria deadpanned. “Hiding like a coward before your demise.”

“You speak as if you’re going to succeed with your little bloodbath.”

“Do you honestly think after everything you’ve done to me I’ll let you live for another second?!”

“No, not at all,” His eyes narrowed, “but I think you’ll find it a little difficult to kill someone when you’re _short on breath_.”

“Wha—”

Two arms grabbed at Tieria, one wound around his neck and the other snatched the gun. Tieria immediately grabbed at the offending arm in an attempt to escape, but the offender adjusted to a proper choke hold.

“I’ll leave the rest to you, Ali.” Ribbons addressed the attacker calmly, getting up from his chair and heading towards the door.

“You got it, boss.” The voice rumbled against Tieria’s back, sending a frightening chill down his spine.

He tried to squirm and yell after Ribbons, but Ali—who was tan and muscular from what Tieria could see—tightened his hold around his throat. “Ooh, you’re a feisty one, aren’t you? That makes this all the more fun.”

Tieria was appalled that this man was enjoying this, and tried to struggle against the hold more, but his vision was starting to blur.

 _Damn him. I have to get away…_ Tieria angled the dagger still in his grip so the blade pointed at Ali’s thigh and jerked it back with as much force as he could muster.

Ali roared in pain and loosened his grip just enough for Tieria to slip out of it and face him. He was a good few inches taller than Tieria and his red mane and beard gave him the likeness of a lion. And right then, Tieria was his prey.

“You little punk, you’re going to pay for that.” Ali sneered, ripping the dagger from his flesh.

Tieria tried to gain distance but was backed into a wall. He could only go left or right to get around the mercenary, but that would mean getting stabbed or having the wind knocked out of him.

A flesh wound would be less debilitating than not being able to use his diaphragm to make his escape, the assassin reasoned. Tieria jerked left to roll away and as expected, Ali cut his side on his way down to the floor and up again.

Tieria stumbled trying to stand, still dizzy from the strangling. That moment of hesitation allowed Ali to get his hands around his neck once more, and he was lifted from the ground.

Tieria gasped for air, fingernails trying to dig into the mercenary’s wrists, but it didn’t even seem to affect him. Dark spots began to cloud his vision.

“It’s a shame you’re a guy, with a pretty face like that. I would’ve had some fun before killing you.” Ali mused, squeezing mercilessly.

 _I can’t let it end like this…_ Tieria’s mind was losing focus, everything was going black. On the verge of blacking out, he heard a gunshot in the distance and felt his body falling the next moment. He lost consciousness hitting the floor.

\--

Tieria had woken up back in Neil’s apartment with his torso wrapped in gauze. He was initially alarmed, but heaved a sigh of relief upon recognizing his surroundings.

Neil appeared in the living room from his office, and after quickly inspecting Tieria’s injuries, admitted that he’d planted a tracker on him via the business card because he had an inkling something would happen after his visit. _Detective’s intuition_ , he’d called it.

As to how Tieria was saved, Neil went on to explain that he employed the help of Lockon Stratos, known in the underground world as the man who never missed his mark. He was the one who shot Ali from the next building over and Neil went inside to retrieve Tieria.

 _So that’s it._ Tieria’s suspicions about Neil not being an ordinary detective were confirmed. He definitely had some shady connections, and Tieria had heard of Lockon before, but never thought a man like that actually existed. No matter how much someone trained, it seemed impossible for them to have 100% accuracy with a sniper rifle, of all things. Neil seemed to suggest that they're acquainted, but that was less pressing of a matter than what the assassin was going to do about Ribbons.

Tieria was out for blood, and he argued with Neil to let him leave and finish what he started, but the detective wouldn’t let him, especially when he could barely stand.

“Yer just gonna git yerself 'urt again, maybe even killed,” He stressed. “If yer gonna do this, kip for a few days an' let me 'elp you.”

He had zero reason to listen to Neil or trust him, but it wasn’t like he had much of a choice, given his condition. Tieria swallowed his pride, _hard_ , but reluctantly accepted the aid.

\--

Now Tieria was at least able to sit up without too much difficultly. He presumed the skin over the cut had at least closed thanks to the stitches, but he didn’t want to overdo it. His exhaustion took care of repressing that impulse for him, but he was losing his patience.

When were they going to come up with a plan of attack? When were they going to give Ribbons what he so rightfully deserved? Right as Tieria was about to stand up, the front door opened and Neil entered with a bag of baked goods.

He flashed an empathetic smile at Tieria. “Wasn’t expectin’ ya t’ be awake this early. Another nightmare?”

“It’s starting to feel like a premonition…” Tieria sighed.

While Neil set his items down in the kitchenette and started preparing coffee, Tieria pondered something that popped into his mind.

“Neil Dylandy.”

The detective huffed a laugh as he started the coffee maker. “Ya can just call me Niall, y’know.”

“…Neil. Why are you going out of your way to help me? Aren’t you concerned about the possibility that I might betray you?”

Neil paused, evidently thrown off by the question. He turned his head toward the assassin. “Not really. If ya wanted my money or somethin’, ya could’ve killed me an’ buggered off already, yeah? Even with yer injury.” Neil didn’t see him as a threat, but it wasn’t an insult to his abilities as a killer. Did he trust Tieria?

The detective’s features softened a bit when he spoke again. “Besides, I couldn’t leave ya t’ die.”

“Why couldn’t you? My life shouldn’t matter to you in any way.” Aside from the fact that they were strangers to each other, agents of the law didn't normally look out for criminals. Tieria felt there had to be a motive behind the man's generosity and hospitality.

Neil didn’t respond immediately, leaning against the counter with a finger tapping against his lips. After a few moments, he nodded to himself, as if he’d carefully considered his words. “It’s my job.”

Tieria frowned, unsatisfied with his answer. In his line of work, not being able to read someone or know what they're after could mean death, and Neil was a complete mystery…

“Coffee an’ soda bread?” The Irishman offered suddenly, waving a mug.

"Wha-?" _Just what is this man thinking?_ Tieria was miffed that the course of the conversation changed so quickly, but didn’t have the energy to argue. He had to admit he was hungry, too.

Tieria responded with a curt nod, and they made small talk over breakfast.

Maybe having one unsolved mystery wouldn’t kill him.

**Author's Note:**

> So this did not turn out how I was intending at all, as in I didn’t get to the scene I was planning on writing initially but I’m still satisfied to have this for 00 week. I’m definitely gonna to do a part 2 to tie it up.
> 
> Also I apologize for Neil’s dialogue lmao. The character of HTR he's filling the shoes of is written with a strong native dialect, so I wanted to keep that intact. I used a dialect translator and made some adjustments so it could still be readable. For anyone who’s curious, apparently a kip is a like a long nap or sleep.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
